De morte lulii Cesaris et aliorum gentilium
The Rise and Fall of the Caesars
The chapter opens by examining the complex legacy of Julius Caesar and the subsequent fates of the early Roman emperors.
On tyrants. First, we should look at the house of Caesar, which the world remembers as the most powerful and glorious of any age. Julius Caesar was, in fact, the first to win the world through his foresight and military skill. He was a man of few equals, and nature has yet to produce another mortal quite like him. Although Cicero criticizes him in some places for taking pleasure in injuries without regard for utility or honor—to the point that he actually enjoyed doing wrong—the same Cicero also praises him so highly that he considers him a gift from the gods, tempered by virtue and granted to the Roman Empire. He describes him as someone who knew neither how to be puffed up by success nor broken by adversity, a man who was magnificent without cruelty and magnanimous without recklessness. For even if he might have seemed reckless had he been anyone else, Caesar shouldn't be seen as bold, since his will was always subject to the favor of the gods. No one found Caesar cruel unless they rebelled out of pride; when provoked by injuries, he was quick to forgive, and he surpassed in prudence those he had conquered by force. His excesses seemed to hope for and aspire toward justice; we can infer this from the fact that he never wanted to spend any time without philosophy. Orosius seems to agree with this in part. For when a large part of his soldiers had fallen in Egypt, and he himself—as Lucan recalls—was forced to look back at Scaeva, who, standing out among the Caesarians for his singular courage, besieged Magnus as he trod the walls, Caesar, pressed by the force of the Egyptians pushing against him, boarded a skiff; it was soon weighed down and swamped by the mass of those following, and he reached the ship by swimming for two hundred paces, holding his papers aloft in one hand. Yet because he had seized the republic by force of arms, he was considered a tyrant and was killed in the Capitol with the consent of a large part of the senate, who drew their daggers against him. But even there he remained mindful of his dignity; for as soon as he noticed he was being attacked with drawn daggers, he wrapped his head in his toga and simultaneously pulled the hem down to his feet with his left hand, so that he might fall more decently. His successor, Augustus, the most fortunate of them all, was forbidden under threat of penalty from being called 'master,' and by acting as a citizen, he avoided the stigma and the reality of tyranny. Tiberius, however, the third after Julius, died by poison; the people were so happy at his death that they prayed to Mother Earth and the gods of the underworld not to give him any place among the dead, except among the wicked. Although poisoning has always been detestable, the world considered the poison that destroyed him to be life-giving. The sign that he had been poisoned was thought to be the fact that his heart was found uncorrupted among the bones of his cremated body.
The Tyrant's End
The narrative details the monstrous reigns and ignominious deaths of tyrants like Nero, Vitellius, and Domitian.
The nature of things is considered such that what has been stained by poison cannot be destroyed by fire. The third tyrant, Gaius Caligula, was killed by his own household. Tiberius Claudius, the fifth after Julius, avoided tyranny but was destroyed by clear signs of poison, just like the other Tiberius. But Nero, the sixth after Julius and the most monstrous and vile of them all, met the same end. After he burned the city—offended by the ugliness of the old buildings and the narrow, winding streets, as mentioned—he was abandoned by everyone, according to Suetonius Tranquillus. When he entered his bedroom looking for an executioner and couldn't find one, because everyone had left, he said, 'So, I have neither friend nor enemy?' Shortly before he killed himself, he ordered a trench to be dug in his presence to the size of his body, and for any marble found to be arranged in it, and for water and wood to be gathered to care for his corpse. He wept at every detail, repeating, 'What an artist dies in me!' But when he heard the Senate had condemned him to be punished, he asked what kind of punishment it was. When he learned that a naked man's neck was to be placed in a fork and his body beaten to death with rods, he was terrified. He grabbed the two daggers he had brought with him, tested the edge of each, then put them away again, claiming his fatal hour had not yet come. At one moment he urged Sporus to begin lamenting, and at the next he begged someone to encourage him to face death by their own example. Sometimes he would rebuke his own laziness with these lines: 'I live shamefully, I die more shamefully.' By now the horsemen were approaching, those ordered to drag him out alive. When he realized this, he drove a blade into his throat, and in that moment the entire family of the Caesars was extinguished. And so that no one might suspect that the laws allowed such tyranny only in that one family, Vitellius—the ninth after Julius (with Galba and Otho inserted between Nero and Vitellius)—was dragged most shamefully from the small room into which he had squeezed himself, led naked along the Via Sacra while people threw filth into his mouth, and finally, at the Gemonian stairs, he was butchered by the Roman people with tiny wounds and dragged by a hook into the Tiber. The twelfth, Domitian (with Vespasian and Titus having intervened), was cruelly killed by his own people after a long and bloody tyranny. I will briefly explain the reason why he acted more mildly toward the Christians, on the authority of Eusebius of Caesarea, whose words in the third book, chapter eighteen, are these: 'Under Domitian himself, when he had ordered the execution of all who were descended from the line of David and the royal stock, as ancient tradition holds, certain people were denounced as being of the posterity of Jude, who is said to have been the brother of the Savior according to the flesh.' They were pressured by a double envy, as they were descended from the line of David and from the kinship of Christ himself. Hegesippus relates these things in order with these words: 'Still living were certain grandsons of Jude, of the carnal line of our Lord, he who is called the brother of the Lord according to the flesh; these were denounced by some as coming from the line of David.'
The Humility of Christ's Kin
The account of the grandsons of Jude before Domitian highlights the stark contrast between worldly power and the humble kingdom of Christ.
A man named Revocatus, who had been sent for this purpose, brought them to Caesar Domitian. For he himself was afraid of Christ's coming, just as Herod had been at the beginning. When Domitian asked if they were from the family of David, they admitted it. Then he asked what possessions or wealth they had. They replied that between the two of them, they had no more than nine thousand denarii in assets, with each owning half that amount. They explained that this wasn't held in cash, but in the value of land—a plot of thirty-nine acres—which they worked with their own hands to feed themselves and pay their taxes. At the same time, they showed him their hands, hardened and calloused from their daily labor, as proof of how they lived. When asked about Christ—what His kingdom was like, who He was, and where or when He would come—they replied that His kingdom was not of this world, nor was His authority of this earth; rather, it was a heavenly kingdom prepared for Him through the ministry of angels. They added that He would come in glory to judge the living and the dead, and to reward each person according to their deeds and merits. In response to this, Domitian, finding no crime in them and holding their insignificance in the greatest contempt, ordered them to go free. So much for them; it’s clear he didn't restrain the madness of his cruelty toward some of the faithful out of the gentleness that becomes a prince, but rather out of an impious pride. If, therefore, the royal line was reduced to such scarcity and poverty that, during Domitian's reign, barely two could be found from the lineage of David, who can be confident that any permanence exists for those who propagate themselves in flesh and blood? Because Domitian tore apart the Church of God—and indeed the entire empire—he was himself torn apart by the same judgment of God he had used against others; his corpse was carried out on a common pauper’s bier by undertakers and buried in the most ignominious way.
Succession and Divine Judgment
The chapter concludes by surveying the reigns of later emperors and reflecting on the ultimate vanity of those who oppose God's order.
His successor, Nerva, revoked all his decrees and, having been counted among the princes rather than the tyrants, died of illness, having adopted Trajan into the throne. He succeeded with such moderation that, just like the most fortunate Augustus, this best of emperors was held in high regard for a very long time, and, as they say, he died at the city of Seleucia in Isauria from a flux of the bowels. He was succeeded by Aelius Hadrian, father of his country, who organized the state with the most just laws and completely subdued the Jews, who had been stirred up by the turmoil of their own crimes to invade Palestine, with a final slaughter; he also avenged the Christians whom they had been torturing and ordered that no Jew should have permission to enter Jerusalem, allowing only Christians into the city, which he restored to its best state by rebuilding its walls and ordered to be called Aelia after his own name. Antonius, surnamed Pius, governed the empire quietly and holily, succeeding Hadrian along with his children, and was deservedly called Pius and father of his country; through the intercession of Justin the philosopher, he showed himself kind to the Christians. Marcus Antoninus Verus, the successor of Pius, took over the empire alongside his brother, Aurelius Commodus. Aurelius, however, died after being suffocated by a sudden illness—what the Greeks call apoplexy—and upon his death, his brother ruled the state alone; he was a man who, if Eutropius is to be believed, is easier to admire than to praise. From his earliest years, he was so calm and steady that he never changed his expression, whether in joy or in sorrow. Having been taught philosophy by a Stoic and deeply committed to it, he was a philosopher in both his life and his studies. He was instructed in philosophy by Apollonius of Chalcedon, in Greek literature by Cheroneses, the nephew of Plutarch, and the orator Fronto, a man of great nobility, taught him Latin—though some believe it was actually Plutarch's nephew who did so. Among other things, he waged a war that, because of its scale, can be compared to the Punic Wars. And although he is said to have finished great wars through the prayers of Christian soldiers—as the Emperor himself attested in his own letters—a severe persecution of them flared up, and many of the saints were crowned with martyrdom. Finally, after bringing his son, Lucius Commodus, into the empire, he died of a sudden illness while in Pannonia. Lucius Antonius Commodus, the fifteenth from Augustus, was corrupted by every disgrace of cruelty, luxury, and obscenity; he also fought very often with gladiator's weapons and frequently exposed himself to wild beasts in the amphitheater. He also killed many senators, especially those he noticed excelling in nobility and industry. The king's crimes bring punishment upon the city; for the Capitol was struck by lightning, and the fire that followed consumed that library, which had been assembled through the care and study of our ancestors, along with other buildings situated nearby, in a rapacious whirlwind. Yet it is said that blessed Gregory burned the pagan library so that the divine page might have a more welcome place, greater authority, and more diligent study. But these things don't conflict at all, since they could have happened at different times. Commodus, however, who was a nuisance to everyone, was strangled in the house of the Vestals, having been judged an enemy of the human race while he was still alive. This is indeed the description of a tyrant, which explains what lies hidden in the name. Just as he conquered and killed the condemned enemy, Niger, who was aspiring to tyranny; he restrained the rebellious Jews and Samaritans with the sword; and he overcame the Parthians, Arabs, and Adiabenians. This is Severus, the conqueror of nations, who, having been drawn into Britain by the defection of almost all his allies and having often fought great and heavy battles there, decided that the part of the island he had recovered should be separated from the other untamed tribes by a wall. Therefore, he built a massive trench and a very strong wall, reinforced with frequent towers, for one hundred and twenty-two thousand paces from sea to sea. And there, as Orosius and other historians report, he died of illness near the town of York. Indeed, Britain has always abhorred poisons and has never known how to use the sword against its princes, but rather to wield unconquered blades on their behalf. The town mentioned above, however, grew in strength and boldness over time, to the point that it dares to compare itself with ancient cities; perhaps the burial of such a great emperor contributed to this. Yet it is certain that he exercised tyranny over Christians in the manner of the pagans and through the depravity of the faithless, and that he paid the penalty for his wickedness. For no one throughout the ages has acted out the image of the apostate angel without also becoming a participant in his damnation and confusion. Oh.
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tirannorum. Occurrit ergo imprimis domus Cesarea, qua nichil potentius aut gloriosius ulla etate recolit mundus. Siquidem luliiis Cesar primus orbem pnidentiae et rei militaris uiribus adquisiuit. Homo perpauconim et cui nullum expresse similem adhuc edidit natura mortalium. Licet enim Cicero eum alicubi criminetur quod citra omnem utilitatis aut honestatis speciem delectabatur iniuriis, adeo ut eum ipsum peccare iuuaret, idem tamen tantis laudibus eundem effert ut deorum censeat munus ex uirtutibus temperatum Romano indultum imperio, utpote qui nec prosperis extolli nec aduersis frangi nouerit, magnificus sine crudelitate, sine temeritate magnanimus. Quamuis enim si alius esset, posset temerarius uideri, Cesar tamen audax uideri non debet, cuius uoluntas deorum aspirante fauore semper infra potestatem fuit. Nemo ferum expertus est Cesarem, nisi superbia rebellaret; prouocatus iniuriis pronus fuit ad ueniam; quos uicit uiribus prudentia antecessit. Excessus eius uidebantur sperare et ad iustitiam aspirare; quod ex eo conici potest quod nullum tempus sibi uoluit esse philosophiae expers.
His uidetur Orosius pro parte consentire. Cum enim in Egipto magna pars militum eius cecidisset, et ipse, sicut Lucanus meminit, cogeretur respicere Sceuam qui, singulari uirtute eminens inter Cesarianos, obsedit muris calcantem menia Magnum, insistentium Egiptiorum ui pressus Cesar scapham ascendit, qua mox pondere sequentium grauata et mersa per ducentos passus ad nauem una manu elata, qua cartas tenebat, natando peruenit. Hic taraen, quia rem publicam armis occupauerat, tirannus reputatus est et magna parte senatus consentiente strictis pugionibus occisus in Capitolio. Sed et ibi honestatis memor extitit; ut enim animaduertit se strictis pugionibus peti, toga caput obuoluit, simul sinistra manu sinum ad ima deduxit, quo honestius caderet. Successor eius Augustus felicissimus omnium se sub interminatione penae dominura est prohibitus appellare et ciuem gerens tirannidis rem declinauit et notam. Tiberius autem a lulio tertius ueneno obiit; cuius morte ita letatus est populus ut Terram matrem et Deos Manes orarent ne mortuo sedem ullam darent nisi inter impios. Et, licet ueneticium detestabile semper fuerit, uenenum quo ille extinctus est orbis censuit esse uitale. Signum ueneni certum habitum est quod cor inter ossa cremati inuentum est incorruptum.
Ea enim rerum estimatur natura ut tinctum ueneno igne confici nequeat. Tertius tirannus Gaius Caligula occisus est a domesticis suis. Tiberius Claudius, quintus a lulio, etsi tirannidem uitauerit, manifestis, ut alter Tiberius, ueneni signis extinctus est. At Nero sextus a lulio omnium immanissimus et uihssimus a hunc exitum habuit. Postquam enim, deformitate ueterum officiorum et angustiis flexurisque uicorum ofFensus, ut praedictum est, urbem incendit, ab omni populo, sicut Suetonius Tranquillus refert, desertus est, et cum ingressus in cubiculum quaereret percussorem et non inueniret, omnes quippe discesserant: Ergo ego, inquit, nec amicum nec inimicum habeo'? Idem paulo antequam se confoderet scrobem coram se fieri praecepit ad corporis sui modulum componique in ea si qua inuenirentur marmoris frusta et aquam simul et ligna conferri ad curandum cadauer, flens ad singula atque itidem dictitans: Qualis artifex pereo I Cum autem audiret se a senatu adiudicatum supplieio, quale id esset interrogauit. Et cum comperisset debere nudi hominis ceruicem furcem inseri, corpus uero uirgis ad necem caedi, conterritus duos pugiones, quos secum extulerat, arripuit, temptataque utriusque acie rursus condidit causatus nondum esse fatalem horam. Ac modo Sporum hortabatur ut lamentari inciperet, modo orabat ut se aliquis ad mortem coexemplo animaret.
Interdum segnitiem suam his uersibus increpabat: Viuo deformiter, turpius pereo. lamque equites appropinquabant quibus praeceptum erat ut uiuum extraherent. Quod ut sensit, ferrum adegit iugulo, in eoque consumpta est omnis familia Cesarum. Et ne in sola illa familia aduersus tirannidem tantum licere legibus quispiam suspicetur, Vitellius nonus a lulio (Galba et Othone inter Neronem et Vitellium intersertis) turpissime protractus est a cellula, in quam se contruserat, nudusque deductus per Viam Sacram, passim fimum in os eius coniectantibus aliis, et a populo Romano apud Gemonicas scalas minutissimis ictibus excamificatus, unco tractus est in Tiberim. Duodecimus Domitianus (Vespasiano et Tito interpositis) post multam et cruentam tyrannidem a suis crudeliter interfectus est. Ex qua causa tamen in Christianos mitius egerit auctore Eusebio Cesariensi paucis aperiam; cuius uerba sunt haec libro tertio capite decimo octauo: Apud ipsum uero Domitianum, cum iussisset omnes perimi qui de genere Dauid et regia stirpe descenderant, sicut uetus habet traditio, delati sunt quidam quasi essent de posteritate ludae, quem fratrem fuisse Saluatorisd secundum camem tradunt. Duplicique urgebantur inuidia ueluti qui ex genere Dauid et ex ipsius Christi propinquitate deseenderant. Quae Egesippus per ordinem his uerbis refert: Adhuc autem uiuebant quidam de camali Domini nostri genere nepotes ludae eius qui secundum camem frater Domini dicitur; quos quidam detulerunt tamquam ex Dauid stirpe uenientes.
Hos quidam Reuocatus nomine, qui in hoc missus fuerat, perducit ad Domitianum Cesarem. Nam et ipse formidabat de aduentu Christi, sicut et in initio Herodes. Interrogati ergo a Domitiano si essent ex familia Dauid, confessi sunt. Tunc quaesiuit quantis possessionibus uel quantis facultatibus essent praediti. At illi a respondemnt quod utrisque non amplius esset in bonis quam nouem milibus denariorum ex quibus singulis media pars pro portione deberetur. Neque haec sibi in pecunia subsistere, sed in estimatione terrae, quae eis esset in quadraginta minus uno iugere constituta, per quam suis eam manibus excolentes uel ipsi alerentur uel tributa dependerent. Simul et testes mralis et diumi operis manus labore rigidas et calle obduratas praeferebant. Interrogati uero de Christo quale sit regnum eius uel quis ipse aut unde aut quando uenturus, respondemnt quod non huius mundi regnum neque huius terrae ei designetur imperium, sed celeste ei per angelomm ministeria praeparetur; quando scilicet aduentums in gloria de uiuis ac mortuis iudicabit et restituet unicuique pro factis et meritis suis.
Ad haec Domitianus, cum in eis nichil criminis inueniret et uilitatem eomm quam maxime contempneret, abire eos liberos iussit. Haec illi; ex quibus patet quod non ex mansuetudine, quae decet principem, sed fastu impio a nonnullis fidelium cmdelitatis suae cohibuit rabiem. Si ergo ad tantam paucitatem et paupertatem genus regale deductum est ut regnante Domitiano de stirpe Damd uix duo potuerint inueniri, quis sibi in carne et sanguine propagatis perpetuitatem esse confidit? Et, quia Ecclesiam Dei immo et totum imperium lacerauit Domitianus, eodem in se Dei usus iudicio et ipse laceratus est j cuius cadauer populari sandapila per uispilliones exportac tum atque ignominiosissime sepultum est. Successor eius Nerua omnia acta eius reuocauit in irritum et, asscriptus principibus non tirannis, morbo confectus diem obiit, Traiano adoptato in regnum. Qui tanta moderatione successit ut, sicut Augustus felicissimus, ita et iste imperator optimus diutissime habitus sit, et, ut ferunt, apud Seleuciam urbem Isauriae profluuio uentris extinctus est. Ei successit Helius Adrianus, pater patriae, qui rem publicam iustissimis legibus ordinauit et ludeos scelerum suorum perturbatione exagitatos, ut in Palestinam irruerent, ultima caede perdomuit, ultusque est Christianos, quos illi excruciabant, praecepitque ne cui ludeo introeundi lerosolimam esset licentia, Christianis tantum ciuitate permissa, quam in optimum statum murorum instructione reparauit praecepitque uocari Heliam de praenomine suo. Antonius cognomento Pius tranquille et sancte gubemauit imperium, succedens Adriano cum liberis suis, et merito pius et pater patriae nominatus est, et intercedente lustino philosopho se Christianis benignum exhibuit.
Marcus Antoninus Verus successor Pii cum Aurelio Comodo fratre suscepit imperium. Aurelius autem casu morbi, quem Graeci apoplexiam uocant, sufibcatus interiit; eoque defuncto frater solus rei publicae praefuit, uir quem admirari quam laudare, si Eutropio creditur, facilius est. A principio uitae tranquillus et eonstans adeo ut ab infantia uultum nec gaudio nec merore mutauerit, philosophiam edoctus a Stoice eique deditus, uita pariter et eruditione philosophus, institutus est ad philosophiam per Apollonium Calcedonium, ad scientiam litterarum Grecarum per Cheronessem Plutarchi nepotem, Latinas autem eum Fronto nobilissimus orator docuit et pro quorundam opinione Plutarchi nepos. Inter cetera bellum gessit quod prae magnitudine Punicis conferri potest. Et, licet orationibus militum Christianorum, sicut idem Imperator litteris suis dicitur attestatus, magna bella confecerit, grauis eorum exarsit persecutio multique sanctorum martirio coronati sunt. Postremo Lucio Comodo filio suo in regnum assumpto in Pannonia constitutus repentino morbo interiit. Lucius Antonius Comodus, quintus decimus ab Augusto, per omnia crudelitatis luxuriae et obscenitatis dedecora deprauatus, gladiatoriis quoque armis saepissime depugnauit et in amphitheatro feris sese frequenter obiecit. Interfecit etiam plurimos senatores, maxime quos aduertit nobilitate industriaque excellere.
Flagitia regis pena urbis insequitur; nam fulmine Capitolium ictum, ex quo facta flammatio bibliothecam illam maiorum cura studioque compositam edesque alias iuxta sitas rapaci turbine concremauit. Fertur tamen beatus Gregorius bibliothecam combussisse gentilem, quo diuinae paginae gratior esset locus et maior as auctoritas et diligentia studiosior. Sed haec sibi nequaquam obuiant, cum diuersis temporibus potuerint accidisse. Comodus autem, cunctis incommodus, in domo Vestaliani strangulatus est, uiuus ante hostis humani generis iudicatus. Et haec quidem est descriptio tiranni, qua explicatur res quae latet in nomine. Sicut ergo dampnatum hostem licet Nigrum ad tirannidem aspirantem uicit et interfecit; ludeos et Samaritas rebellantes ferro cohercuit; Parthos a Arabas Adiabenosque superauit. Hic est Seuerus gentium uictor, qui in Britannias defectu pene omnium sociorum tractus, magnis ibi grauibusque praeliis saepe gestis, receptam partem insulae a ceteris indomitis gentibus uallo distinguendam putauit. Itaque maximam fossam firmissimumque uallum crebris insuper turribus communitum per centum uiginti duo milia passuum a mari ad mare duxit.
Ibique, sicut Orosius et alii historici referunt, apud oppidum Eboracum morbo obiit. Siquidem Britannia uenena semper exhorruit et in principes non nouit sed pro suis principibus inuictos gladios exercere. Praefatum uero oppidum in id uirium et temeritatis temporis processu excreuit ut urbibus antiquis audeat se conferre; hoc ei forte tanti imperatoris contulit sepultura. Ipsum tamen gentilium ritu et infidelium prauitate tirannidem in Chrib stianos exercuisse et penas sceleris luisse certum est. Nemo enim a seculo se apostatae angeli egit imaginem, qui dampnationis eius et confusionis non fuerit particeps. o
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